News

Eagles avenge blowout loss, beat rival Spartans

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
01/09/2013 11:37:52 PM PST

Updated:
01/09/2013 11:37:53 PM PST

It's common to say athletes learn more from defeat than triumph. The Los Altos girls basketball team proved that Wednesday night in their home gym, where the Eagles avenged a loss to rival Mountain View with a 41-37 hard-fought victory.

"We started out as a team and finished as team," Los Altos senior Ideen Seyed said. "So I think that's shown a lot how we've improved throughout the season."

A month and a day earlier, while hosting its Holiday Classic, Los Altos lost on the same court to the same opponent 56-33. Three days later, the Eagles couldn't handle the St. Francis-Mountain View full-court press in a 74-20 setback.

But it's been a different story during the current five-game win streak.

"We focused on slowing the game down, being patient and getting the ball over half court," Los Altos coach Kevin Lee said. "And when we do that, then we run our offense."

Los Altos (9-5, 2-0 SCVAL El Camino) trailed 21-19 at halftime, but held Mountain View (12-3, 1-1) to a single basket in the third quarter -- a 3-pointer by Cori Nishimoto with 6:38 left. The Spartans shot 1 of 13 from the field in the third quarter and 27 percent for the game.

It also didn't help that Mountain View went 3 of 22 from the free-throw line.

"We just didn't shoot," Mountain View coach Judy Auclair said. "The games we're winning is because of our defense, not because of our shooting. What is working for us is the quickness of the defense."

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The Eagles were pressed into 29 turnovers, but the majority came after the ball had crossed midcourt, which prevented the Spartans from scoring transition buckets.

In turn, Mountain View committed 21 turnovers of its own as Los Altos did a good job of disrupting its rival's rhythm on offense.

"We collectively never give up, and that really pushes us to play to the last second," Seyed said.

Clinging to a 25-24 edge at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Los Altos sophomore Rebecca Andrews drove the baseline and drew contact to create a three-point play with 6:45 left.

Mountain View immediately turned to its top two scoring threats. First, sophomore small forward Jayme Hughes -- who scored a team-high 11 points -- hit a leaner to cut the deficit to 28-26. Then, with 6:10 left, senior guard Bailey Polisso sank a corner trey to reclaim the lead.

"In some ways I hope this affects us and makes us think," Auclair said. "I think now, this is a wake-up call."

But the night belonged to the home team as the Eagles went ahead for good when freshman forward Meg Enthoven drained a jumper with 5:50 left -- six of her eight points coming in the second half.

It was part of a 9-1 run that culminated with a 3-point dagger from Seyed, who scored a game-high 18 points. Her third trey of the night put Los Altos up 37-30 with 4:21 left.

"It was just crazy," Seyed said. "I didn't believe it that we were winning. But I knew that I couldn't really get distracted because we didn't win yet. I was waiting until the last second to celebrate."

"I've taught her to let the game come to you and don't rush it," Lee said. "And she did that tonight."

Mountain View wasn't quite done as sophomore forward Karen Kauffman hit a pair of short jumpers in the paint to close to within 37-34 with 2:17 left.

But Los Altos junior Meghan McDermott hit four free throws down the stretch and with fewer than 30 seconds left Andrews came up with a key steal to burn off crucial seconds.

"Rebecca came out tonight and she really stepped up for us," Lee said. "She's just a natural basketball player."

In a moment of levity, Enthoven missed a free throw with 2:46 left in the first quarter. But the ball never left the rim, settling on the back iron. That required the 6-foot-8 Lee to leave his bench and tip the ball out, allowing him to show off his length but not what was left of his vertical leap.